Sword Art Online- The Road Less Traveled
by feiggy
Summary: In the world of SAO there is adventure, danger, and love. This story delves into the life of one group of peculiar characters. A boy who searches for his teacher, a girl who is looking for an answer beyond death, a rogue who sleeps in the daylight, and a swordsman who follows their path. Read as they experience joy, friendship, and hardship. This is SAO as it was never told before.
1. Chapter 1

**Prelude**

He stood at the front door of the Church at the first floor of the Aincrad. It had been one week after the announcement that every person in the game, Sword Art Online was trapped without any way to log out and that if someone died in the game he would end up dead in real life too. Here was where all the children who had been trapped inside this game would stay from now on until the final level of the game was reached, if it ever was.

"You mustn't go out there its too dangerous for you!"

"No it's not; everyone was given all the same equipment and skills, if I go I have just as good of a chance as anyone else that goes."

"Aren't you afraid? You could die at any moment this isn't just a game anymore there are monsters that will kill you if you leave the town. All the others seem to understand this but you don't!"

"Your right I don't understand. I don't understand how we can be stuck in a game, I don't understand why it's more dangerous for me than it is for someone else when right now we are all in the same boat…But if I am stuck here then nothing will change. I won't be any closer to getting out of here."

"If you go out there you put your life at risk, I hear that not only the monsters are attacking people but even other people are attacking each other."

"Well, if I stay here to be honest it wouldn't be much living, at least if I go out there I can at least say that I in some way helped get us out of here and didn't just lay around in the starting town like a kid hoping for his mom to get him."

"This is no longer a game, if something happens to you there is no guarantee that you can go back to your family. Nobody will be able to help you! If you go out there you will end up like those who just died for nothing! If we wai-"

"If we wait everything will end right?! If we wait everything will just fix it self right?! If we all think like that then who is actually going to get us out of here?! There is no guarantee that the people on the outside can get us out of here and all everyone does around here is stay in the inns and houses hoping that this is some dream… I can't hide like a child here forever waiting to be rescued and I can't pretend this is some nightmare that somebody is going to wake me up from. I am going to fight, I'm going to bring us all back!"

With those words he left into the night, alone with nothing but the sword and armor that was given to all the players as they entered this survival game. Whether it was foolish or not, he did not know. He didn't have someone to tell him right from wrong. Yet this was the choice that he made, the choice that he would live by. He was no longer in a world where he could have people make decisions for him, where people would be there to protect him, no guarantee of a friend to trust, he would live with faith in his choices cause that was all he could have faith in at that time.

**Chapter 1**

It's been 1 year since the beginning of the game and the top players have just made it to the 32nd floor. Our story however begins in a small shop in the 20th floor.

"Emilia your as gorgeous as ever...your eyes as blue as the sky, your lips as plump as cherries, and your boobs as big as watermelons! Now go out there and get us some customers!" Said the outrageous dagger user Champ.

"Yes, Master." Emilia responded.

"Champ... I don't think you should be saying that stuff for 3 reasons." Said the young sword bearer whose age appeared to 16.

"Why would that be?"

"1. That's harassment."

"What do you mean I'm just complimenting her gorgeous body! Are you gay or something?"

"No dammit!...Besides 2. Your also a girl..." He yelled.

"I don't see your point on that one either." She retorted.

"... And 3...Thats an NPC your talking about!"

"Jeez, Asa you really need to be less serious enjoy the finer things in life like Emi-chan!"

"If I did I would probably end up flagging the harassment warning, the only reason you get away with the stuff you do is because your a girl as well...If I did that I could get thrown in jail for a few days..."

The door opens to the small shop, a young woman looks around timidly around the store noticing how small yet well furnished it looks.

"Welcome Miss may I help you?" Emilia said as she greeted the player.

"Oh ...uhm yes I was wondering if you coul-"

"Hold your breath miss thats just an NPC your talking to."

"Oh...sorry...are you the owner of this store?"

Asa responded "No. she i-"

"Welcome to Champy's Odd Job Champions store how can we make you feel like a Champ today!" Champ blurted as she had pushed Asa out of the way.

The girl stared somewhat confused.

"I told you that Motto is never gonna catch on." He stated dumbfounded that she even tried to use it at all.

"What are you talking about she loved it so much she's at a loss for words, isn't that right miss?"

"uhm, well –" The girl tried to find words to describe what she had heard.

Asa decided that it would be better to interject then to have Champ hear this girl's thoughts on the matter,"Anyway lets stop hassling her, how can we help you?"

"Uh, yes you see...I think I'm being stalked?"

"Hmm, that's understandable if I was some fat lowlife stuck in here I would want a cutey to stalk too."Champ stated bluntly.

"...Really?" Asked Asa in an irritated fashion since Champ couldn't read the mood. "Sorry Miss, can we get your name first?"

"Oh yes, my name is Salzzy." As she introduced herself.

Asa continued on "Well Salzzy, do you know why this stalker may be after you?"

"Yes, a few days ago I was on the 23rd floor farming mobs and I ended up getting a super rare item I immediately went to try it out but my stats weren't high enough to use it so I intended to sell it I finally found someone who agreed to buy it off me but however... I found out a few days later that the person I tried to sell it to was pk'ed."

"Let me guess and this kept on occurring with other buyers of your item?" Asa stated seeming to already know the situation.

"Yes, how did you know?!" Salzzy asked in amazement at his knowledge.

"There have been a lot of reports lately that players that have usually just stolen have now gone as far as to kill. I thought it was a rumor at first but I guess this just confirms it."

"I see...however yesterday I got a message saying _I will gladly take that ring off your hands even if its cost is your life_. I don't know how he got my message contact information but the person who contacted was named Raize."

...Uhm sorry...Did you say Raize...?

"Yes."

"Could you per chance mean Raize the front lines Raize...?"

"Yes."

"The Raize that is known as one of the most vicious Beaters as of late and is supposedly one of the suspects for the recent pks going on?!"

"Probably."

"Salzzy this definitely isn't being stalked. I believe your being targeted, and by an extremely dangerous person. I'm sorry but I don't think we can hel-"

"Please! I beg of you I tried asking for someone from the front lines for help. But there was nobody I could find who would help me. I finally found another person to take the item but at this rate I'm afraid I won't make it to the meeting point without dying. I don't even feel comfortable in the towns anymore its so bad. I have stopped visiting my friends in fear that they might be targeted too. Please, help me!" Begged Salzzy with desperation in her eyes.

"Hmm...So it's a body guard job you need huh?" Champ stated, "That doesn't seem too hard; we'll need to half of your profit though as payment, that sound fair?" Champ said with a smile on her face.

"Yes! Absolutely anything to get rid of thing!"

Asa looked at Champ with a half astounded half enraged stare.

"Well then where is this meeting point?" Asked Champ.

"The buyer said that we could meet him on the 25th floor if we leave in the morning we should be able to get there in no time, and the earlier we do this the more likely we can avoid Raize hopefully."

"I see...that's a good point." Champ stated.

Asa looked somewhat relieved to know that he wouldn't be in dangers way.

"However I don't think its good to leave you by yourself unguarded so me and Asa will stay with you until the job is done starting now, let us just get our things."

Asa looked at her again this time trying to hold back the panic and tears in his eyes.

Champ started to drag Asa into the backroom. "Come on we got stuff to pack." she said as she continued to drag a disheartened they enter the back room Asa screams immediately

"What the hell are you thinking you don't even know who Raize is do you?" Asa yelled now in the confines of the back room of the store.

"Not in the slightest, why does he hide and assassinate people when they're stunned?"

"No, he doesn't need to, He's a solo player, but also one of the toughest guys in SAO's front lines right now, however for months he has been attacking people and taken their items, he also supposedly has ties with some of the pkers as of late."

"Then how come nobody has tried to confront him?!" Champ questioned.

"Because! He is one of the few people on the front lines, the front lines that are trying to bring all of us back home, and since the amount of people on the front lines is so small they usually don't ask questions about people who are in it. Its not pretty but since he has the power to fight, he can pretty much do what he wants..."

"That's stupid...if he was really trying to SAVE us he wouldn't be attacking players. He is just abusing his power, I don't care who he is, if he decides to come after us we'll stop him for good."

"Jeez, you don't get it , I know your a little behind everyone else but he is a front line player, he can take all 3 of us down all by himself. and even if we did take him down we would be in major trouble, we would be targeted if we somehow got rid of a front line member especially someone as well known as Raize, not like we could though. There another breed of player compared to don't wanna end up doing something you'll regret or you'll end up like-"

"I know I don't intend to have anyone else die... If we can't kill him then we'll just have to do our job and then get away that's all. Nothing more or less." Champ interrupted in a false spirited voice.

On the other side of the store. Salzzy was waiting for the two to come out of the back room. Suddenly she heard the front door of the store open and Emilia begin to talk.

"Welcome to Champy's Odd Job Store, How may I help you today?"

Salzzy was confused she couldn't see who the NPC was talking to. "Hmm...Maybe the person opened the door then realized they were in the wrong place and shut it again." She thought to herself in quite. Suddenly she heard a noise.

"Pardon me, miss are you the owner of this store?"

She heard a voice but couldn't see where it was coming from.

"Down here."

Salzzy redirected her gaze to see a young man who was wearing a gray hooded cloak. Most of his face and body was enshrouded by the cloak, all she could tell was that he was so small it looked like if he had been any closer to her, he'd be able to look up at her panties as if he was looking up at the sky. However it seemed that the young man was uninterested in such things as he waited for her response.

"Sorry I'm not, the owners are in the other room taking care of something, I think they should be out in a few minutes. Did you need something from them?"

"Not particularly, I was wondering if they had seen a specific person, maybe you can help have you seen this man before?"

The young man showed her a picture that appeared to be a screenshot taken of a large man.

"I'm sorry I don't think I know who that person is."

"I see." A message suddenly appeared before the young man, "My apologies, I need to leave miss, is it possible that you can show this picture to the owners and tell them that if they find them to contact the name of the person on the back of this picture please?" He asked in a polite manner.

"It would be no trouble at all." Salzzy said in a delighted tone.

The young man thanked her again as he rushed out of the room showing nothing but the word "Mongoose" from the back of his cloak. A few seconds after he left the door to the back room reopened with the two arguing about who would be carrying what.

"Is everything okay?" Salzzy asked in concern.

"Yeah, no problems here." said Asa as he tried to slowly walk towards the door as if hoping something would stop them from leaving.

"Oh before we go there was something I needed to-"

"Whatever you need to do we can deal with it later, we gotta get you to safety first my dear sweetey! Emi-chan remember if anybody tries to steal anything seduce them with your goods then hit them with the hammer!" Champ yelled as she started to head towards the front door.

Emilia waved to them as they set off to Bring Salzzy to the 25th floor.

**A/N**

**Hey Everyone, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter so far. This is my first fanfic so any advice or criticism is greatly appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The group of 3 had set out for the path to the 20th floor; however they had decided to take a detour in order to cut their time in half.

"Shouldn't we be sticking to the main roads though?" Asked Salzzy pondering the unusual route they had to decide to take

–"It wouldn't matter we need to get you as soon as we can to the 25th floor, I have heard that Raize isn't one care about how others view him. He has supposedly attacked someone the moment they left a town, with a huge crowd there."

"But cause that guy is such a monster I guess they just let the bastard get away with it? Champ said in disapproval.

"Precisely so we need to get there as soon as possible or we run the risk of him finding us."

"I see, since he has such a high level won't his hiding ability outrank our detection skills?" Asked Salzzy again out of concern.

"Well, that is a good point, if he has put all his points into hiding then your absolutely right we won't find him w/ our detection ability. However, he probably has a bit of detection as well so he can locate his targets easier, if that's the case then I should be able to catch him sense I have invested a lot into my detection skills."

-Well there you have it, just leave it to our little hunting hound to catch wind of that beast.

They had continued on for a while longer until suddenly Asa stopped, "Don't move" He whispered.

they noticed a couple yards away a pair of rustling bushes. "

This is it Champ on my signal."

"Don't have to tell me twice lets take this bastard down".

Asa waited for a slight movement, anything that could trigger where there enemy may lie. Suddenly a quick shadow jumped through the bushes.

"Champ now!"

Champ immediately threw a dagger, which was off. "Dammit!,This isn't good we need to get out of here!"

"No way in hell am I letting this bastard get out of my sights"She proclaimed as she threw another dagger. It missed again. "Agh! Why do I use these things…wait…what is that?" Champ looked in a puzzled state as to what had just came out of the bushes, instead of a villainous pk, it looked more like a frightened large cat monster.

"What is that thing? Salzzy said in confusion.

"Oh jeez, it's a stealth beast. That's what we were attacking…this is embarrassing."

"Yeah for you maybe, weren't you suppose to have an amazing detection skill?"champ said with a pout on her face.

"What part of stealth beast don't you get, it gets perfect hiding skill, there is no detection ability that can find that thing, also looks who talking miss I can't hit whats a couple feet in front of me. I mean really that's – Get back!" Asa yelled at the top of his lungs.

A sudden flash had been picked up by Asa's detection skill. Yet, it was so fast he didn't have enough time to properly warn them. He pushed Champ to the side and prepared his sword and shield to intercept. Immediately a large axe could be seen glowing overhead. Asa braced as his shield collided, he had been able to block the attack but the sheer force of the attack had knocked Asa off his feet.

"Champ do it now!" yelled Asa as he fell.

Champ immediately took this opportunity where Raize would be dazed after being blocked to go in close and land a deadly blow. "Take this you bastard!" Champ screamed as she closed the distance between herself and him. She thrusted forward with her dagger using the stabbing dagger sword skill Wasp Bite. She had hit him point blank in the chest and was even able to get a critical hit out of it. But when she checked his health bar despair was shown all over her face. He had only dropped about a tenth of his health, this would have been pretty good for a sword skill attack hitting a higher level player, but considering that it was point blank and a critical none the less it should have in Champ's head given a more serious wound to her opponent.

He chuckled softly " Was that your all game sweetie? I've had worse mosquito bites. But let me return the favor" As he went to raise his axe suddenly it crashed to the ground. Then the rest of his body followed. "What the hell?!" He lashed out violently. Trying to figure out what had happened to him.

The girl smiled and said "What never been under paralysis before? That's quite understanding given that most players won't use poisons unless they are pkers themselves. Though just to let you know my poison preparation skills are top notch." Champ stated to her paralyzed opponent directly to his face.

"Idiot! Get away!"Asa screamed as if life itself had depended on it. Without a moments notice Raize began another preparing another sword skill with his axe. Realizing this just quick enough Champ had avoided a serious blow. "What happened why can he move I have such a high level poison preparation why didn't it last longer?!"Asa. That's cause the type of poison you gave him was too weak, you don't have the right materials to make a poison that will affect this guy. Now Get out of the way!-Champ was then hit hard enough that her hit points had dropped into the yellow zone. Seeing this she started to back up from her enemy to try and widen the distance.

"Ha, good riddens to you girlie you stay right there once I have collected what I came here for I'll be on my way." He then started approaching Random with a face so putrid that even an animal would think that he was a beast.

"I see that you got my message? I guess you did otherwise you wouldn't have tried to get help. Though its a shame that this is all the help you could get. Now hand the EW over to me, its not like you would be able to use it. Besides its an honor to be giving something to the cause. Though its not like I really care about the front lines to be honest, they are all so snobby even to one another, though as long as get what I need I won't complain about it." Raize stated.

"Wait EW…did he say EW?" He looked at Salzzy who looked completely immobilized from fear alone.

"I….I…can't give this to you, not to someone who will use it to hurt other players…ESPECIALLY TO A MURDER LIKE YOU!" Salzzy said in an way that almost sounded as if she herself was trying to believe those words.

Raize stood in silence for a moment, "Let me explain this to you, I need that item and I will do whatever it takes to get it. If it means taking your life then I will be a murder, besides makes it easier to take what I need anyway."

Raize lifted up his axe preparing his sword skill, one hit from Raize would end everything if it hit Salzzy. He swung his axe down with tremendous force which slashed to shreds what would have been Salzzy. Instead he ripped through most of Asa's shield as Asa had once again intercepted him. However his shields durability was at it s limit ready to break at any moment.

"Enough of this! I am going to take that item and if you keep on jumping in the way of my mission then I am gonna kill you!" Raize began to swing his axe in a wild frenzy at Asa.

Asa doing his best to keep his shield up to absorb the blow. Then the sound of shattering glass could be heard and the face of an enraged demon could be seen. Asa's shield had lost all its durability and therefore was destroyed from impact, and without it a few swings from this monster would end him. Asa knew there was no way he could defeat Raize, he knew the best option was to run. But his body moved and with his sword by his side attacked Raize.

"Naïve!" Yelled Raize in rage as he swatted Asa's sword down.

"Its over," That's all Asa could think at that moment as he watched from the dirt as the glow of the axe prepare to end his chances of returning home, to stay alive.

As Asa's final moments could be counted another light reached his eyes. A blue glow could be seen that clashed with the axe dyed in red light stopping it just a few inches from Asa's head. In front of him stood a figure wearing a gray hooded cloak that covered most of his body, with the word MONGOOSE written on the back. A small voice then came from the hooded stranger.

"Man, it's a good thing he didn't do that when you were standing up, otherwise I may not have been able to stop it in time."


End file.
